Irish Army in Afghanistan to serve under NATO

national | miscellaneous | news report

Saturday April 05, 2003 11:36

by James McKenna

The coalition of armies known as The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, to which Ireland is contributing troops, is to transfer operational command from US Central Command (CENTCOM) to NATO.

While CENTCOM is in supreme command of our troops in Afghanistan, structural command is shared between nations, transferred every six months : first Britain , then Turkey and now Germany and Holland. However according to Canadian news ,"NATO is receptive to taking over some of the leadership duties of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan."

Afghanistan is not going well for the US so they seem to be sub-contracting to NATO while they concentrate on the western flank of the Caspian Sea. The US has had to abandon Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Anaconda in the face of persistent guerrilla resistance supported by the local population and are suffering continual attacks even in their barracks.

The ISAF which was established under UN resolution UNSC 1386 and is "for operational purposes under the command of US Central Command". That's Tommy Franks and his butchers who are at present slaughtering their way through Afghanistan.

The ISAF are in Afghanistan to protect the US manufactured Kabul government and later oil and gas pipelines to India and through Pakistan to the the US ships waiting in the Gulf. The vast Caspian oil and gas riches are the real reason 20,000 people were bombed to bits in Afghanistan and our heads were filled full of lies about the Taliban being the greatest terrorists in the world.

Canada, Germany and the Netherlands want NATO to be used in Afghanistan to overcome problems when responsibilities for the peacekeeping mission are transferred to new national forces. They have proposed that NATO consider taking over the structure that supports the mission and possibly other operational responsibilities to provide continuity.

"You can't change over the leadership every six months or every year, it just makes it impossible, so if you have a key role for NATO, that becomes better," Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said Thursday after meetings at the military alliance headquarters.

If you look up the Irish Defence Forces website you will find no reference to our illegal participation in the ISAF .

http://www.military.ie/

Supposedly the Irish government gave authorisation for the despatch of members of our army to Afghanistan on July 7th 2001 but despite requesting to see this authorisation under the Freedom of Information Act, I have been refused twice and the case is now before the Information Commissioner.

Our participation in this force leaves us open to war crimes charges by association. We are assisting in Baghram base where the US are torturing prisoners. The base from which four US special Forces men returned home to brutally kill their wives in the last few weeks. Will Irish soldiers also come home with such an insight into "pre-emptive marriage conflict resolution", or with new skills to display on out streets after twenty pints.

Coming to a town near you soon!